Nikola Jokic Once Again Showed Why He's The Best Player On The Planet While Carrying Serbia Past Australia
If you're Australia, there's certainly no shame in losing to Serbia. They were +7.5 underdogs heading into the game, Serbia has the best player on the planet in Nikola Jokic, and they're the 4th ranked team in the world. Many expected them to advance to the semifinals, so this result on the surface isn't that surprising.
And yet, what a devastating loss for Australia. How else can you describe blowing a 24 point lead with a chance to advance to the medal rounds on stake? That has to sting knowing it was right there for the taking only to let the win slip out of your hands in a brutal OT loss. For Australia to win this game they were going to need heroic performances from multiple players on their roster, and the tough part is that's exactly what they got!
Josh Giddey and FIBA Patty Mills were incredible in this game, sparking a rather insane Australia shooting performance for about 95% of the game, which is the exact way you pull off an upset. That's the beauty of this tournament, you never know who can get hot and have an outlier shooting variance game and the next thing you know you've been sent home packing, even as the favorite. Australia got off to a crazy 12-16 start from the floor and a 31-17 first quarter lead, and it looked like they were well on their way to the next round once the lead ballooned to 24. Given these are shorter games, a lead like that should be safe, especially when you're playing well.
Unfortunately for Australia, Nikola Jokic exists.
In a blink of an eye, Serbia evaporated their 24 point deficit by the time the game hit midway through the 3rd quarter. Making up that kind of ground in just 5 minutes of game action is rather insane, but that's the power of Jokic & Co. Suddenly a blow out became a down to the wire battle, and things ultimately were going to come down to which star was going to be able to make the plays and survive OT.
Like he so often does, it was during this time that Nikola Jokic reminded the world why he's the best player on the planet. It wasn't just his scoring, which was masterful. Jokic was also making plays defensively whether it was blocking Giddey at the rim, knocking Patty Mills' layup off the rim at a crucial moment, poking the ball away and forcing steals in transition, Jokic did it all on both ends of the floor in that OT to seal the win.
Then, once you get the Sombor Shuffle in your eyeball, you're as good as cooked.
That's the ultimate death nail shot in my opinion. We see it all the time at the NBA level and there's nothing you can do but put up your hands and bow down to the greatness of Jokic whenever he unleashes it. Nobody else pulls off that shot as consistently and from anywhere on the court quite like Jokic, so it's no surprise that he brought it out for the most important bucket of the game to effectively seal the win.
From a Team USA perspective, this game was obviously important given that SRB/AUS are on their side of the bracket. While Team USA has beaten Serbia twice so far, once in the tune up games and then once in Group play, it's important to remember that Serbia played Team USA even in the Nikola Jokic minutes. Things only got out of hand once he went to the bench, but they are most definitely a team that is to be taken seriously. There aren't many matchups where Team USA won't have the best player on the floor, but that is the case when they play Serbia and Jokic is in the game.
Much like Team Germany (who also advanced to the semifinals), Team Serbia is the right mix of continuity, shooting, and good guard play which is what makes them dangerous. Then you add in the Jokic factor and you can understand why they pose a series of challenges moving forward. Even when you think you might have them dead, they just keep coming at you and as long as they have the best player (and Bogy continues to shoot well) they'll always have a chance.
Aside from the whole blowing a 24 point lead thing, Australia also threw away the inbounds pass in the final moments down 3, and then in the last 10 seconds Josh Giddey appeared to injure his ankle on a layup which is just some shit luck. Pretty brutal way to go out between how the game started and FIBA Patty Mills' heroics in what was probably his last Olympics, but that's what makes these knockout rounds so exciting. A play here or there and it's the difference between potentially winning a medal and going home. Unfortunately for Australia, they were just ultimately a few plays short